Nuñez, returning to the village where he had left his men, now resumed his march to Darien. He and his party being much affected by the climate, could proceed but slowly; but they at length arrived on the sea coast in the territories of their ally Comagre. That cacique was now dead, and had been succeeded by his son, the youth who had first given information to Nuñez of the existence of the Southern Sea. Nuñez next proceeded to Ponca, where he heard of the arrival of a ship and caravel from Hispaniola. Hastening onwards to Coyba, the residence of his ally Careta, he embarked in the brigantine on January 28th, 1514, and arrived at Darien on the following day. He had been absent for five months, and was met with the most joyful welcome on the part of the entire colony.

CHAPTER III.

THE COLONY OF DARIEN; FATE OF VASCO NUÑEZ.

1514-1517.

The Bachelor Enciso, as has been already said, had carried his complaints against Nuñez to the foot of the throne; and when, in May 1513, he was followed by Caÿzedo and Colmenares with their glowing account of the province of Zenu, with its mountain streams that flowed over golden sands, their news served but to hasten the appointment of a governor over this favoured region. The royal choice fell, on the recommendation of Fonseca the Bishop of Burgos, upon Don Pedro Arias Davila, commonly called Pedrarias, who, on July 27th of the same year, was appointed ruler over Darien. The new governor was an elderly gentleman of rank, who had been brought up in the royal household and had afterwards distinguished himself as a soldier; but he has been well called, as his subsequent actions proved him to be, “a suspicious, fiery, arbitrary old man.”[F]

The envoys of Nuñez had asked King Ferdinand for a thousand men, wherewith to enable their master to make the discovery of the Southern Sea. Ferdinand fully appreciated the importance of the enterprise; and, although he did not intend it for Nuñez, he assigned twelve hundred men to Pedrarias for its accomplishment. It so happened that at this time the Great Captain, the famous Gonsalvo de Córdova, was preparing to return to Naples; and the chivalry of Spain were thronging to enlist under his banner. His armament was, however, countermanded when on the point of sailing; and thus a large number of young nobles and cavaliers, who had set their hearts on winning their spurs, had their plans suddenly thwarted. Pedrarias had a host of volunteers anxious to join his expedition to the country which had already received the appellation of Castilla del Oro, or Golden Castile. In order to enable him to comply with the wishes of these applicants, he was permitted to increase his force to the number of fifteen hundred men; but in the end some two thousand embarked. Pedrarias was likewise accompanied by a bishop and four principal officers, one of whom was the Bachelor Enciso, now appointed alguazil mayor. He was also accompanied by his wife Doña Isabella de Bobadilla. He received instructions not to admit any lawyers into his colony,—an instruction subsequently more than once repeated in respect to Spanish-American colonies.

Scarcely had his fleet of fifteen vessels set sail from San Lucar, on the 12th of April 1514, when Arbolanche arrived, bearing the news of the glorious exploits of Nuñez. Had he come but a few days earlier, how widely different would have been the future of that cavalier! King Ferdinand gazed with delight on the pearls and gold which the messenger of Nuñez laid before him, and his imagination was carried away by the tale of the unknown seas and wonderful realms which were about to be brought under his sway. The popularity of Nuñez suddenly became unbounded, and the fame of his exploits resounded throughout Spain. The ill impression which had been produced on the king’s mind by the reports of Enciso was forthwith obliterated, and the Bishop of Burgos was instructed to devise some means of rewarding his surpassing services. But meanwhile the cavalier himself was afar off, and the waves of the Atlantic were fast bearing to Darien the jealous old man who was to see in Nuñez only one who had robbed him of the glory which he had proposed to himself of being the first discoverer of the Southern Sea and the conqueror of the regions of gold and pearls on its shores.

Meanwhile Vasco Nuñez was governing the region subjected to his rule in such a manner as to prove that the popular selection which had elevated him to the position of chief was justified by his qualities as a peaceful ruler no less than by his exploits as a warlike adventurer. The settlement contained upwards of two hundred houses or huts, and the constant effort of the captain-general was to bring the neighbourhood into such a state of cultivation as to render Darien independent of Europe for supplies. Its population now amounted to about five hundred Europeans and fifteen hundred Indians. The climate being depressing, Nuñez, who was a born governor, took advantage of every means to keep his people in good spirits, devoting the holidays as they came round to national sports and games, including tilting matches. He was singularly successful in securing the friendship, as well as in gaining the respect, of the natives; so that the Spaniards could travel, even singly, all over the district in perfect safety. It was certainly a circumstance full of misfortune, as well for Spain as for the inhabitants of the Isthmus, that when, after the experience of so many unfortunate colonising expeditions and so many incapable leaders, one was at length found admirably suited alike for the requirements of peace and of war, he should have had so soon to give place to a man whose age unfitted him to fulfil the duties of leader, and whose temper prevented him from recognising the merits of those who acted under him.

In June the fleet of Pedrarias arrived in the Gulf of Urabá. The new governor, knowing the character and the renown of Nuñez, was somewhat apprehensive lest he should decline to render up peaceful possession of his government, and he accordingly thought it prudent to cast anchor about a league and a half from the shore, and to send a messenger in advance to announce his arrival. He need not, however, have felt any misgiving; for Nuñez forthwith sent back his messenger with congratulations on his safe arrival, and with the expression of his own readiness and that of all the colony to obey his orders. It is true that some fiery adherents of the popular leader expressed their desire to repel the intruder; but these were at once discountenanced by their chief. The new governor, disembarking on the last day of June, made his entrance into Darien at the head of two thousand armed men, he leading his wife by the one hand and having Bishop Quevedo on the other; whilst a train of youthful cavaliers formed his body-guard. Vasco Nuñez came forth unarmed to meet him, attended by a detachment of his scarred and veteran troops. He conducted his guests to his humble straw-thatched abode, where he laid before them such a repast as this embryo city of the forest might afford, the only beverage procurable being water. We may well believe that the courtly cavaliers who formed the governor’s train were somewhat taken aback by the simple nature of their first entertainment in Golden Castile.

Pedrarias, on the day of his arrival, summoned Vasco Nuñez to his presence and held with him a long private conference, at which the historian Oviedo assisted. In accordance with the governor’s request, Vasco Nuñez gave an account in writing, in the course of two days, of his administration during the past three years. He likewise described the rivers and mountains where he had found gold, the caciques who were his allies, and his journey to the Southern Sea and to the Isle of Pearls. Having thus obtained the information which he required, and which Nuñez alone could furnish, Pedrarias next proceeded to take the residencia of the late captain-general, that is to say, he instituted an inquiry into his past conduct, the result being that for the injuries done to Enciso and others, Nuñez was condemned to pay a large amount, although he was acquitted of the criminal charges brought against him. The governor was now his declared enemy, and would have sent him in chains to Spain, to be tried for the death of Nicuesa, had he not been warned by the Bishop Quevedo, who was Nuñez’ friend, that his arrival in Spain would be the signal of his triumph, and that the result would in all probability be his return to Panamá with increased power and position. Nuñez had likewise found an advocate in the wife of the governor, who could not but admire his character and exploits. Under these circumstances it was thought better to detain him at Darien under a cloud. His property, which had been sequestrated, was, however, restored to him.

Nuñez, in his letter to the king, had advised the creation of settlements in the territories of Comagre, Ponca, and Pocorosa, with a view to establishing a line of posts across the mountains between Darien and the Southern Sea; and it was now determined to carry out this plan. Whilst preparations were being made with this view, the Spaniards who had accompanied Pedrarias began to suffer greatly from the effects of the climate, and were likewise sorely pressed by hunger. The colony had not been in any way prepared for such an accession to its numbers; nor were there any neighbouring friendly Indians on whom to fall back for a supply of provisions. Men brought up in luxury, and who were clad in fine raiment, were glad to procure herbs and roots, or were actually perishing from starvation. One of the principal hidalgos dropped down dead in the street, starved. Within a month’s time seven hundred men had perished, whilst Pedrarias himself was taken seriously ill. The provisions which had been brought out were now exhausted, and the horrors of famine stared the whole colony in the face. In this gloomy state of affairs Pedrarias was glad to give permission to a ship-load of starving adventurers to depart for Cuba and for Spain.

When the governor had recovered from his malady, he urged on the expeditions which he had planned; but he was careful not to permit Vasco Nuñez to acquire additional renown by taking part in them. That cavalier was still allowed to remain under the cloud of a judicial inquiry hanging over him. Notwithstanding the provision which had been made not to admit lawyers into the colony, the legal profession was at this time so flourishing at Darien that it was estimated that there were about forty lawsuits to each colonist.

Vasco Nuñez, oppressed by this inaction, determined to prosecute his plans on his own account, without reference to the governor; and he despatched one Garabito to Cuba to enlist men for an expedition across the mountains and to found a colony on the Southern Sea. Whilst Garabito was absent, Nuñez was condemned to behold his schemes ruined, owing alone to the incapacity and brutality of those entrusted by Pedrarias with the mission of carrying them out. Amongst the leaders employed by the governor was one Juan de Ayora, who was sent with four hundred men to build forts in the countries ruled over by Comagre, Pocorosa, and Tubanamá respectively. This officer proved himself an exceptional ruffian even amongst the Spanish transatlantic adventurers of the day. According to Oviedo, who was at this time notary of the colony, he not only demanded of the chiefs and their subjects the authorised requisitions to avert war, but, pouncing upon the caciques and principal men by night, he put them to the torture in quest of gold. Some he then caused to be put to death; others were given to be devoured by the dogs; whilst others again were reserved for new forms of torment. Their wives and daughters were taken from them, and were made slaves and concubines according to the good pleasure of this Ayora.

One of the first victims of this expedition was Comagre himself, the same youthful cacique who had given to Vasco Nuñez the earliest information of the existence of the sea beyond the mountains, and who had told him that a thousand men would be needed for its discovery. Little did he imagine that he himself would be one of the victims of the thousand men who had now been brought by his advice! The chiefs with whom Vasco Nuñez had cemented a friendship came forth in turn to lay their gold before Ayora. The valiant Tubanamá, being of a less submissive turn of mind, took to arms, but to no avail. Another cacique, having put his women and children in safety, laid wait in ambuscade and attacked the Spaniards, wounding Ayora himself.

The proceedings of Ayora towards another cacique are thus described by a lawyer sent on a mission of inquiry to the West Indies a few years later by Cardinal Ximenes. On the approach of the Spaniards, the cacique in question, under the belief that he was about to welcome his old friend Nuñez, had prepared for him the best entertainment within his means, including roast-meat, game, and wine. On his inquiring for the chief, Ayora was pointed out to him, but he replied that this was not Nuñez. He was, however, to become well acquainted with his present guest during their brief intercourse. After having partaken of his hospitality, Ayora sent for him and demanded gold. This not being forthcoming in sufficient quantity, the cacique was bound, upon which his vassals were desired by him to bring all the gold in their possession. The amount, however, did not satisfy the invader, who ordered the cacique to be burnt alive.[G]

Not being troubled as to the means he took to obtain it, it was but natural that this scoundrel should gather together a considerable quantity of gold; it is some satisfaction to the moral sense to know that neither Ayora nor any one else was any the better for it. The idea of delivering up his ill-gotten treasures was repugnant to the avarice of this robber, who secretly made off with them to sea and was never more heard of. The colony which he had founded at Santa Cruz met with no better fate. The garrison, having given much offence to the Indians, were beset at night by Pocorosa and his people; a desperate struggle ensued, but when morning broke, only five Spaniards were left alive to carry the tale to Darien. It may here be mentioned that Hurtado, who had been sent by Pedrarias to discover the causes in the delay of the return of Ayora, brought back with him to Darien a hundred peaceful Indians, of whom he disposed as slaves. A number of these had been lent to him as carriers by the cacique Careta, the friend and ally of Nuñez.

In a letter addressed to Vasco Nuñez, King Ferdinand expressed his high sense of his merits and services, and constituted him Adelantado of the Southern Sea, and governor of the provinces of Panamá and Coybá. He was, however, to be subordinate to Pedrarias. A letter was likewise written at the same time to the latter, informing him of this arrangement, and requiring him to consult with Vasco Nuñez upon all affairs of importance. This communication was a severe blow to the vanity of the jealous old man; and upon its receipt, he summoned a council to deliberate as to what action should be taken. It was finally arranged that the above-mentioned titles and dignities should be nominally conferred upon Nuñez, but that for the meantime he was not to enter into possession of the territories assigned to him.

At this critical moment Carabito, the agent of Nuñez, happened to return from Cuba with a vessel freighted with arms and ammunition, and having seventy men on board. He anchored at some distance from Darien, but sent word of his arrival to Nuñez, all of which became speedily known to Pedrarias. The suspicious mind of the latter taking the alarm, he at once ordered Nuñez to be seized and confined; but he was prevailed upon by the bishop to inquire into the matter calmly, the result being that, as nothing treasonable was proved against him, Nuñez was set at liberty.

The bishop next endeavoured to persuade Pedrarias to employ Vasco Nuñez on an expedition which he was about to despatch to the Southern Sea and to the Isle of Pearls. As, however, there was much credit and probably much wealth to be derived from it, Pedrarias preferred to give the command to his own kinsman, Morales, with whom he associated Francisco Pizarro, who had been in Nuñez’ expedition to the same region. Gaspar Morales accordingly started with sixty men, and traversed the mountains by a shorter route than that which had previously been taken. He arrived at the territories of a cacique named Tutibrá, where he left one-half of his men under Peñalosa, whilst with the remainder he set out in canoes for the Pearl Islands. On arriving at the Isla Rica, so named by Nuñez, they experienced a warm reception from the cacique, who sallied forth four times against them, but who was as often repulsed with loss. His warriors were paralysed by the firearms and the blood-hounds, and the cacique was at length obliged to sue for peace. He presented to his guests as a peace-offering a basket filled with pearls, two of them being of remarkable size and beauty. Taking Morales and Pizarro to the summit of a wooden tower, he pointed proudly to a long vista of islands subject to his sway, and promised his new friends as many pearls as they might desire so long as they should continue to give him their friendship.

Turning towards the mainland, which stretched away mountain upon mountain as far as the eye could reach, the communicative chief told his guests of a country of inexhaustible riches that lay in that direction. His words and suggestions were not lost upon one of the two men who listened to him. The cacique further agreed to become the vassal of the king of Castile, and to pay him an annual tribute of one hundred pounds weight of pearls. The party then returned to the mainland at another point than that at which they had embarked, when Morales sent a detachment of ten men to conduct Peñalosa and his party from the village of Tutibrá.

During the absence of the Spanish leaders at the islands, a conspiracy had been formed by a large number of the caciques along the coast to massacre the whole band of invaders. This measure was undoubtedly the result of grossly tyrannical conduct on the part of the Spaniards. By some writers the provocation is ascribed to Peñalosa; by others it is given to Morales himself, who is stated on one occasion to have come upon an Indian town or village in the midst of a festivity, when the men and women were seated apart, and to have taken advantage of the opportunity to capture the females. We shall not be far wrong if we assign both to Peñalosa and to Morales a full share of the enormities which brought about the conspiracy.

The party sent in quest of Peñalosa put up for the night in the village of one of the conspirators; but in the dead of night the house was wrapped in flames, and most of the strangers perished. There was at this time with the Spaniards under Morales a cacique named Chirucá, who, on learning of the above-mentioned massacre, instantly fled during the night. He was pursued and taken, and, on being put to the torture, confessed the whole conspiracy. Morales and Pizarro were appalled by the unsuspected danger into which they had fallen. They, however, compelled Chirucá to send a message to each of the caciques inviting him to a conference. The caciques fell into the snare, and eighteen of them were put in chains. At the same time Peñalosa with his thirty men arrived from Tutibrá. Being thus in strength, the Spaniards lost no time in attacking the unsuspecting Indians, of whom seven hundred were slain. The eighteen captive caciques, and likewise Chirucá, were given to the blood-hounds.

After the above-mentioned occurrence, Morales attacked by night a warlike cacique named Biru, setting fire to his town. The chief, who at first fled, soon turned upon his pursuers and fought for the entire day, which ended not much to the advantage of the Spaniards. In his retreat, Morales was harassed by the people of the twenty caciques whom he had caused to be slaughtered. Being much pressed, he had recourse to the expedient of stabbing his Indian captives at intervals as he went along, hoping thus to occupy and delay his pursuers. In this manner, says Oviedo, perished ninety or a hundred persons. Vasco Nuñez could not be called an over-scrupulous commander; but though in circumstances of difficulty he had to provide for the safety and wants of his men as best he could, he was by nature neither cruel nor treacherous. It would be an outrage to name him together with such men as Ayora and Morales, of which latter’s proceeding, just mentioned, he writes to the king that a more cruel deed had never been heard of.

For nine days the Spaniards were hunted about the woods and mountains, at the end of which time they found themselves at the point from which they had set out. It was all their commanders could do to prevent them from yielding to despair. Entering a thick forest, they were again assailed by Indians, with whom they now fought like wild beasts. They at length owed their safety to the fact of their surprising some canoes, in which they traversed the Gulf of St. Michael, landing at a less hostile locality, from which they again set out to cross the mountains. After incredible sufferings they returned to Darien, with the satisfaction of having brought with them their precious pearls from Isla Rica, one of which was afterwards presented to the Empress of Charles V.

Another expedition sent out by Pedrarias was still more unfortunate than that above referred to. It was commanded by Becerra, and consisted of one hundred and eighty men. Of this force the sole survivor was an Indian youth, who returned to Darien almost famished with hunger. His leader, he said, had entered by unknown ways the province of Cenú, where the Indians were fully prepared to receive him. His men were wounded by poisoned arrows; the paths were blocked by felled timber; and finally, when Becerra’s men, under the guidance of Indians, were crossing a great river, the latter contrived to destroy them all.

About this time the historian Oviedo became so disgusted with the intolerable conduct of his countrymen in the Isthmus of Darien, that he resolved to return to Spain for the purpose of giving information to the king, and in order that he might live in a country more secure for his conscience and his life. It is interesting to note that he was charged with complaints to the king by the governor against the bishop and by the bishop against the governor. Pedrarias too seems to have begun to take this state of things to heart. He ordered the melting-house to be closed, and, together with the bishop, caused public prayers to be offered up that God would remove his anger from the colony. Of evil deeds there was certainly enough to rouse the wrath of the Almighty. With one expedition sent out by Pedrarias under the Alcalde Mayor Espinosa, there was a Franciscan monk named San Roman. In writing to the head of the Dominicans, San Roman begs the latter, for the love of God, to speak to the authorities at San Domingo and urge them to provide a remedy for the Terra Firma, which these tyrants were destroying. This letter was given by Pedro de Cordova to Las Casas. On his return to Spain, the same Franciscan, it is to be hoped with some exaggeration, stated at Seville that in this expedition of Espinosa’s he had seen killed by the sword or thrown to the dogs above forty thousand souls. Espinosa returned with two thousand captives, all of whom are said to have perished at Darien.

We have seen so far the results of the policy of Pedrarias and his lieutenants as regards the inhabitants of the Isthmus. We have now to turn to his treatment of the most capable and distinguished Spaniard within the colony, namely, the Adelantado Vasco Nuñez de Balboa. In the midst of the general gloom in which the settlement of Darien was enveloped, Pedrarias was continually haunted by the fear that the able Adelantado would one day oust him from his office. Had the choice of a leader depended on the people, he knew that Nuñez would have been elected by acclamation; and he had but recently received proofs of the high estimation in which his services were regarded by the king. He was further aware of the gloomy tales of misrule and consequent misery which were being constantly sent to Spain with reference to his own government. Whilst Pedrarias was in this frame of mind, a new idea was presented to him by Bishop Quevedo, the fast friend of Nuñez, who suggested a matrimonial alliance between the Adelantado and the governor’s daughter. The suggestion seemed to be a happy one and was readily accepted by both parties, a regular contract being entered into, and the young lady being sent for from Spain.

Vasco Nuñez was now the ally of the governor, whose jealousy was lost sight of in his desire to further the interests of his daughter’s future husband. Nuñez was authorised to build brigantines and to make the necessary preparations for an expedition of discovery on the Southern Sea. A town named Acla was founded at a point to the west of Darien, whence there was supposed to be the most convenient route across the mountains. Here Nuñez commenced his operations, having two hundred men placed under his command and being aided by an advance from the treasury. He was also assisted with funds by a notary of Darien, named Hernando de Arguello. Nuñez pursued his undertaking with his accustomed energy, and had in a short time constructed the materials of four brigantines. The timber was felled in the forest of Acla, and was then, with the anchors and rigging, transported to the opposite shore of the Isthmus. On this service were engaged Spaniards, negroes, and Indians. As there were no other roads save Indian paths through the primeval forests or up the rugged defiles, the work of transportation was similar to that with which the journals of Mr. Stanley in Africa have made us familiar in our own day. Many of the Indians perished over the task; but at length the ponderous loads were conveyed to a river which flowed into the Pacific.

Even then the labours of Nuñez and his men were far from being complete; for, with all their trouble, the Spaniards found that the timber which they had brought at such cost of labour and of life was useless, being worm-eaten from having been cut near salt water. They were obliged, therefore, to fell trees near the river and begin their work afresh. But the perseverance and good management of Nuñez at length overcame every difficulty. As food was scarce he divided his people into three bands, assigning to one the task of foraging for provisions, to another that of cutting and sawing the timber, and to the third that of bringing the rigging and the ironwork from Acla.

The patience of the working party was still further to be tried; for when the rainy season set in, the river rose so rapidly that the workmen had barely time to save their lives by climbing the nearest trees. The wood on which they had expended so much labour was either buried out of sight or carried away by the torrent. The same cause prevented the foraging party from returning with food; and the workmen were thus reduced to feed on roots. In this extremity the Spaniards owed their relief to the ingenuity of the Indians, who contrived to fasten a number of logs together, thus making a floating bridge on which they were able to cross to the opposite bank, where they procured provisions.

When the river had subsided, the workmen resumed their operations; and, after immense toil, Vasco Nuñez had the satisfaction of seeing two of the brigantines afloat on the river Balsas. As soon as they could be fitted and manned for sea, he embarked in them with his companions on the mighty ocean which he had been the first European to discover. His first cruise was to the Pearl Islands, on one of which he disembarked the greater part of his men, sending back his vessels for the remainder. On their arrival, taking a hundred men with him, he set out on a reconnoitering cruise to the eastward, in the direction to which the natives pointed as being that of the land which abounded in gold. Nuñez and his party sailed for about twenty leagues beyond the Gulf of San Miguel, the seamen being alarmed at the number of whales which they met with. On this account he anchored for the night, intending to continue his cruise in the same direction next day. But when daylight came the wind had changed, whereupon he steered for land. It was at the point where a party of Spaniards under Morales had recently been massacred; and as the Indians were disposed to fight, Nuñez took vengeance upon them for the slaughter of his countrymen, after which he re-embarked and returned to Isla Rica.

Nuñez resolved to build his remaining brigantines at this island, and accordingly despatched men to Acla to bring the necessary rigging. It was at this time that a rumour reached him of the appointment of a new governor to supersede Pedrarias. His relations with the latter were now so good that he was not a little disturbed by the rumour in question, since it was possible that the new governor might put a stop to the exploring expedition which he contemplated, or might entrust the command of it to some other person. Under these circumstances, he held a consultation with some of his friends as to what had better be done, and the fact that part of this conversation was overheard by a sentry who had taken refuge from the rain in the verandah of Nuñez’ house, had an important bearing upon the fate of that cavalier. It was agreed that a trusty person should be sent to Acla, seemingly on business. Should he find that there was no foundation for the rumour of the coming of a new governor, he was to explain to Pedrarias the progress of their operations, and to request further assistance. In the opposite event he was to return forthwith to Isla Rica; for in that case it had been determined that Nuñez and his party should put to sea at once on their expedition of discovery.

The messenger chosen to go to Acla was Garabito, the same who had been sent by Nuñez to Cuba for recruits. It is stated that this man was possessed by a secret enmity to Nuñez, on account of having been discovered and rebuked by the latter for his attentions to the daughter of the Cacique Careta, who all this time had lived with Nuñez, and to whom he is said to have been much attached. It is even said that Garabito in his jealousy went so far as to send an anonymous letter to Pedrarias, stating that Nuñez had no intention of marrying his daughter, and that he was merely playing a part to gain time. It is certain that Garabito, on his arrival at Acla, basely betrayed his confiding friend.

A new governor had indeed been sent out from Spain to supersede Pedrarias; but he had died in the harbour of Darien. From Garabito Pedrarias had no difficulty in extracting all the information which he possessed, and, further, all that he conjectured respecting the plans of Nuñez. In fact, the suspicions of the jealous old governor had been thoroughly aroused afresh. The latter had made a lamentable mistake in allowing so long an interval to elapse without sending to his chief a report of the progress of his expedition, and there were not wanting at Darien jealous and mischief-making persons still further to irritate the governor’s mind against him.

When Garabito was arrested, and when his papers were seized, there was a great commotion at Darien, and the friends of Nuñez were anxious to put him on his guard. Foremost amongst these was Arguello, who had embarked most of his fortune in his enterprise, and who now wrote him a letter urging him to put to sea without delay, and stating that he would be protected by the Geronomite Fathers at San Domingo, who had been sent out with full powers by Cardinal Ximenes, and who regarded with much approval the exploration of the Southern Sea. It was Nuñez’ extreme misfortune that this letter should fall into the hands of Pedrarias, and that the latter should by this means become convinced of the existence of a plot against his authority. Arguello was now arrested; but the governor, being fully convinced of Nuñez’ treasonable intentions, thought it necessary to have recourse to stratagem to get the latter within his power. Should he openly summon him to Darien, he did not doubt that he would lose no time in putting himself beyond his jurisdiction.

The mind of Pedrarias being thus a prey to fear and suspicion, he wrote an amicable letter to his Adelantado, requesting him to repair to Acla, to consult with him respecting the expedition; he at the same time ordered Pizarro to muster all the troops he could collect and to arrest Vasco Nuñez. The summons to proceed to Acla was instantly obeyed; and, unattended by any armed force, Nuñez, unconscious of having committed any crime, set out to meet his doom. On the road across the Isthmus, his frank and genial manners so gained on the messengers of Pedrarias, that the latter at length felt bound to warn him of his danger. They could not see this gallant cavalier fall into the snare set for him without speaking a warning word by which he might profit to effect his escape. But Nuñez was so unconscious of evil thought towards Pedrarias, that he declined to take advantage of the opportunity offered to him. He was soon afterwards met and arrested by Pizarro.

Nuñez once in his power, the spiteful governor lost no time in urging the alcalde mayor, Espinosa, to proceed against the Adelantado with the utmost rigour of the law. The charge against Nuñez was that of being engaged in a treasonable conspiracy to throw off the king’s authority and to assume an independent sway on the borders of the Pacific. The witnesses against him were Garabito and the sentinel who had overheard and misconstrued a portion of the conversation held between Nuñez and his officers at Isla Rica on the rainy night when it was resolved to despatch Garabito to Acla. Of the charge of treason against the crown Nuñez was entirely innocent. All that could be said against him was that, in case they should learn that Pedrarias had been superseded, he had agreed with his officers that they should sail on the expedition which Pedrarias had sanctioned without waiting for fresh orders from the new governor.

But it was in vain for Nuñez to be innocent; it was in vain that he indignantly repudiated the charge brought against him, pointing out that had he for a moment entertained the views attributed to him he would never have allowed himself to be entrapped into his present position. The mind of Pedrarias was hopelessly prejudiced against him, and the vindictive old man urged on the unwilling judge from day to day, heaping charge upon charge, until at length a sentence of death was pronounced against the accused. The judge recommended him to mercy on account of his services, or begged that at least he might be allowed to appeal. But these recommendations were lost on Pedrarias, and Nuñez was condemned to die. In the same sentence were included several of his officers as well as Arguello, who had written a letter to put him upon his guard. The informer Garabito was pardoned. In the public square of Acla, at the hands of the common headsman, the discoverer of the Southern Sea, at the early age of forty-two, expiated the crime of having aroused the jealousy of a narrow-minded official superior. The blow which then fell affected not Nuñez alone, but the whole Peruvian nation; for had he been permitted to carry out his proposed expedition, he would certainly have anticipated the discoveries of Pizarro, and, in view of the character of the two men respectively, who can doubt that the conquest of Peru would have had a widely different result?

CHAPTER IV.

LAS CASAS; HIS COLONY ON THE PEARL COAST.

1515-1521.

The state of public morality then existing amongst Christian nations, in respect to people and races not within the pale of Christianity, was more or less what it had been in the time of the Crusades. There was at the best merely a truce existing at any one time between the Christian and the Moslem powers. Their principles were antagonistic and incompatible. The days had not yet arrived when the Turk was to be called in as an ally by one Christian power fighting against another.

Such being the state of things when new islands and continents were suddenly discovered, no one in Christendom dreamed of questioning the absolute right of the Pope to dispose of them as he might see fit; and in accordance with this view, the line was originally drawn by Pope Alexander VI., fixing the limit of the Spanish and Portuguese territories respectively, first at a hundred leagues to the west of the Azores, and subsequently, by the Treaty of Tordesillas, at three hundred and seventy leagues to the west of the Cape de Verde Islands. By the Bull of May 2nd, 1493 (the year after the discovery of America), the Spanish sovereigns obtained the same rights, privileges, and indulgences in respect to the newly-discovered regions, as had been granted to the Portuguese with regard to their African discoveries, subject to the same condition of planting and spreading the Catholic faith. It was not for a moment considered in the matter that the natives of the newly-discovered regions possessed any rights whatsoever, saving such as might be granted to them by their Christian invaders, acting under the orders of the Catholic kings whose claims were sanctioned by the head of the Church.

It was but the fulfilment of the promise of Scripture that the heathen should be given to God’s people for an inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession;[H] and thus, according to the opinion of the best ecclesiastical and legal authorities, it was fair and right to enslave such natives of the new countries as might oppose in arms the Christians who came to take possession of their lands, or who, being addicted to cannibalism, were beyond the pale of humanity. It is necessary to bear the above facts in mind in order to judge fairly the conduct of some of the greatest men of the period, including Prince Henry of Portugal and Columbus himself.

Prince Henry and Columbus were the two great originators of the geographical discoveries of the age. Either of the two was profoundly religious, and in the mind of each the ardour for propagating the true faith existed equally with the ardour for discovery. It is a strange and sad reflection that each one of those two great men—in some respects the greatest men of their age—was the originator of a new form of slavery. To Prince Henry is to be traced the origin of the enslavement of African negroes; to Columbus that of the system of encomiendas or partitions of Indians amongst Spanish settlers. Either system was productive of untold misery to large classes of the human race, and in one case the evil is not even yet extinct, as witness Brazil and Cuba. And yet the motives of Prince Henry in originating and sanctioning African slavery, were, without doubt, not only wholly unselfish, but were dictated solely by a desire for the spiritual enlightenment and civilization of the heathen. The motives of Columbus were perhaps more open to question. It is true that he himself, when on his last visit to Hispaniola he had seen the miserable results of the system which he had originated, declared to his sovereign that in sending home Indian captives to be sold as slaves he had been actuated solely by a desire for their spiritual welfare, and by the hope that they would return to spread civilization amongst their countrymen; but it is to be remembered that the motives of the great Genoese were not wholly pure, and that he himself repeatedly requested permission to send home Indians to be sold as slaves in order to diminish the expense to the crown in connection with the colony. He was rightfully rebuked by the pure-minded Isabella, who indignantly ordered such Indians to be returned to their country, and instructed the admiral that their conversion was to be brought about by the ordinary means, and not by their being enslaved.

It is only fair to the early Spanish settlers in America, the account of whose proceedings in respect to the Indians cannot fail to rouse feelings of horror and disgust, that we should duly consider and weigh the feelings of the age in which they lived on the part of Christendom towards all who were beyond its pale. They were in fact the feelings of the chosen people towards the surrounding heathen, who were only deserving of being spared on condition of their becoming hewers of wood and drawers of water. It is true that in the case of a number of Spanish leaders, including Columbus himself and his brother Don Bartholomew, the Indians were to be spared and protected on the condition of their accepting the yoke imposed upon them and fulfilling the tasks assigned to them by their invaders; but upon the slightest resistance or evasion of their duties, all their natural rights were at once abrogated, and they became as so many beasts of burden, to be employed at the pleasure of their drivers. Amongst rulers and governors Queen Isabella stands out alone to protest against such a construction of the duties of one race towards another, even although the one were Christian and the other heathen.

But yet, seeking to make every allowance that can be urged in excuse or palliation, there is but one verdict that can possibly be given as to the general conduct of the Spaniards towards the natives of America, namely, that it surpassed in remorseless, and often stupid and short-sighted, cruelty the conduct of any one conquering or so-called “superior” race towards another conquered or “inferior” race of which history contains any record. In this respect we cannot but think that the Spaniards as a race have been too leniently judged by modern writers—not Spanish, but foreign. Much, for instance, as Washington Irving is to be admired for his clear judgment and his mastery of his subject, we cannot help thinking that he is scarcely justified in assigning the undoubted excesses committed by Spaniards in the New World merely to a set of ruthless adventurers, the scum of their race, rather than to Spaniards in general. It would of course be in the highest degree unjust to make an entire people responsible for the wholesale atrocities of two unlettered adventurers such as Pizarro and Almagro; but the accusation of scandalous and intolerable rapacity and cruelty is unfortunately not confined to the class to which such men belong; it applies equally to all ranks and grades of the invaders, with here and there a notable exception—generally, but not always, on the part of one or more churchmen—most of all in Las Casas.

The conduct of Ovando towards the natives of Hispaniola, and more particularly to those of Xaragua, is one of the many instances in question of the inhuman treatment of Indians by a Spaniard of the highest rank. It will be remembered that on one occasion some eighty caciques were treacherously seized, and upon mere unfounded suspicion, bound to posts and committed to the flames. It was estimated that at the time of the advent of the Spaniards the unfortunate island of Hayti contained about a million or twelve hundred thousand inhabitants—some writers place the population at a much larger amount,—yet in an incredibly short period, under the government of Ovando, it was reduced to twelve thousand, so reduced, indeed, that labourers had to be brought from other islands. And yet Ovando had been specially selected for his “prudence,” in order that he might redress the wrongs to which the Indians were said to be subjected under the government of Columbus and his brother, and the Indians were specially commended to his care by Queen Isabella.

It may be said that the conduct of one tyrannical governor should not be charged to the discredit of a people. This would be a fair argument had Ovando been promptly recalled when the news of his atrocities at Xaragua reached Spain, as was in our own day Governor Eyre, when the news of his high-handed proceedings in Jamaica reached England. Ovando’s proceedings were indeed so repugnant to the humane heart of Isabella that with her dying breath she exacted a promise from Ferdinand that he should be recalled from his government. He was, later on, recalled, but only after the lapse of four years, and when Don Diego Columbus had been declared by the courts of justice to be entitled to the government of Hispaniola. The long period which elapsed between the fate of Anacoana and the recall of Ovando showed that neither his king nor the public feeling of Spain in general was much shocked by the proceedings which have left an indelible stain upon his name.

But it cannot be imagined that the wholesale depopulation of Hayti is chargeable merely to one or more governors. It is to be attributed indiscriminately to the colonists in general, and amongst them were many cavaliers who had gone to seek their fortune in the New World in the train of Ovando. If we turn in other directions we see merely a repetition of the same facts. Cortez and many of his compeers were men of noble family; but in the history of their deeds we find at least equal cruelty, as regards the natives, with that which attended the proceedings of such low-born adventurers as Pizarro and Almagro. Whilst excellent laws and regulations for the well-being and proper treatment of the natives of America were constantly being enacted in Spain, we nowhere read of wholesome examples being made of the wrong-doers who treated these laws as a dead letter. Even the laws and regulations, good and well meant as they were, were not the result of the reaction of public opinion against the ill-treatment of the Indians, but were brought about by a few humane ecclesiastics who had been helpless eye-witnesses of the atrocities committed by their countrymen, and who returned to Spain with the hope of rousing the conscience of the sovereign and his advisers to a sense of the enormities which were being daily committed in his name. This brings us to the historical part played by Las Casas on the continent of South America; but before describing it, it may be well to give a brief statement of what had already been done by other ecclesiastics in the same cause.

The Dominican monks of Hispaniola, grieved at the barbarities practised towards the natives of that unfortunate island, had entered an indignant protest against the treatment which was meted out to the vassals of Queen Isabella. These monks were about twelve or fifteen in number, and they soon gathered for themselves an idea of the cruelties which were being practised around them. As they determined that their protest should be a collective one, they agreed that a discourse should be preached before the inhabitants of San Domingo, to which they should all attach their names. The preacher, taking for his text “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness,” declared to his audience with piercing words that they were living; in mortal sin by reason of their tyranny to the Indians, and he demanded what authority there was for the imposition of this servitude, and what ground for these wars? The sermon was heard to the end, but on reflection the principal persons amongst the audience went to the monastery to make a fierce remonstrance.

They insisted on seeing the preacher, and required that he should make a retractation on the following Sunday. Next Sunday came, and the place of worship was crowded by a congregation brought together to hear the expected apology. The same preacher again ascended the pulpit; but Father Antonio only repeated his former statements and insisted upon their conclusions. He moreover added that the Dominicans would not confess any man who should have made incursions amongst the Indians. The congregation again listened to the discourse; but they determined to send a complaint to the king, and afterwards to despatch a Franciscan monk to argue their case at court. Thus were two orders of the Church arrayed against each other; the one urged on by motives of Christianity and humanity, the other by religious rivalry.

The Dominicans likewise resolved to send their advocate, and amongst the colonists some pious persons were found to defray the expenses of his voyage. The advocate selected was Father Antonio. When the letters from the authorities of San Domingo had reached the king, his majesty had sent for the head of their order in Spain, and had complained to him of the scandal occasioned in the colony by this preaching. Soon after this the envoys arrived, Father Alonso, the Franciscan, being well received by the authorities, and having free access to the king, whilst the doors of the presence-chamber were closed against the Dominican. Father Antonio, however, watching his time, obtained the desired audience. King Ferdinand was inexpressibly shocked at his statement, and gave orders that the matter should be diligently looked into forthwith. He was true to his word, and summoned a junta to consider the matter. This board was formed partly of the king’s council and partly of theologians.

According to Las Casas the junta came to the decision—“That the Indians were free men; that they ought to be instructed in the Christian faith; that they might be ordered to work, but so that their working should not hinder their conversion, and should be such as they could endure; that they should have cottages and lands of their own, and time to work for themselves; that they should be made to hold communication with the Christians; and that they should receive wages, not paid in money, but in clothes and furniture for their cottages.” Such was the reply of the junta to the king. Meanwhile Father Antonio, being much grieved at not obtaining a sufficient hearing, determined upon the bold course of convincing his opponent the Franciscan. He told him that others were but using him as a tool; that he was perilling the reward of a life of sanctity by doing the devil’s work without being paid even in the devil’s wages, and appealed to his own experience as regarded the inhumanity he had witnessed. Strange to say, the Franciscan was entirely gained over, and put himself under the guidance of his rival.

On receiving the reply from the junta, the king’s ministers requested that body to draw up a set of laws in conformity with the principles which they had affirmed; but this they declined to do. Meanwhile the king’s conscience seems to have become uneasy in the matter, and he was willing that the question should be further considered. He asked an opinion in writing from his two preachers; and as this coincided with that of the junta, it was adopted by the king, and nothing remained but to carry it into execution. A set of laws was accordingly drawn up by certain members of the council, who took as their basis that the system of encomiendas was to be retained. The laws were to the following effect:—“The Indians were first to be brought amongst the Spaniards; all gentle means being used towards the caciques, to persuade them to come willingly. Then, for every fifty Indians four bohios (large huts) should be made by their masters. The bohios were to be thirty feet in length by fifteen in breadth. Three thousand montones (the hillocks which were used to preserve the plants from too much moisture) of yuca, of which they made the cassava bread, two thousand montones of yams, with a certain space for growing pimento, and a certain number of fowls, were to be assigned for the living of these fifty Indians.”

Every Spaniard having an encomienda of Indians, was to construct some sort of chapel in which prayers were to be read morning and evening, and a church was to be erected for the general neighbourhood. It was enacted that the Indians were to work at the mines for five months at a time, when they were to have forty days in which to till their own land, when they were to return to the mines. Certain regulations were made concerning their food, which Las Casas condemns in entirety. The employment of the Indians in the mines was not only encouraged but insisted upon. One peso of gold was to be given to each Indian annually, with which to provide his clothes.

Two visitors were to be appointed for each Spanish settlement; but as these were permitted to have encomiendas, it was scarcely to be expected that their proceedings should be impartial. The caciques were to have not more than six Indians set apart for their service, and the cacique and his attendants were to go to whatsoever Spaniard had the greatest number of the same tribe allotted to him. They were to be employed in light and easy services.

Such is a brief summary of the laws promulgated at Burgos, in December 1512, and which have ever since been called the Laws of Burgos.

When the king had spoken to the provincial of the Dominicans condemning the sermons of Father Antonio, the provincial wrote to the head of the order in Hispaniola, upon which Pedro de Cordova came over to Spain and presented himself at court. When he had read the laws of Burgos and had expressed his dissatisfaction with them, King Ferdinand said to him, “Take upon yourself, then, Father, the charge of remedying them; you will do me a great service therein; and I will order that what you decide upon shall be adopted.” With inexplicable diffidence the vicar replied, “I beseech your highness, do not command me.” And he thus lost the golden opportunity of effecting the reforms to bring about which he had come all the way from Hispaniola.

On receiving this culpable and deplorable reply, King Ferdinand summoned another junta to see if the laws could be ameliorated. Pedro de Cordova assisted, but did not succeed in doing much, although what little was done was in accordance with his views. The additions to the laws were mainly with a view to the cultivation of decorum and of family ties amongst the Indians.

Las Casas was a settler in the island of Cuba, and had assigned to him a number of Indians in repartimiento. He himself states that he was as much engaged as others in sending his Indians to the mines and in making a profit out of their labour; but at the same time he treated them with kindness and provided for their sustenance. He confesses, however, that he paid no more regard than did other Spaniards to their religious instruction. Reflection on the preaching of the Dominicans against the sin of possessing Indians led his candid mind to the conclusion that the system of repartimientos was iniquitous, and that he too must preach against it. The first practical point to be determined as a result of the light which now guided him was what he ought to do with his Indians. He evidently ought no longer to retain them; nor did he grudge the loss that he should thereby sustain; but he felt that no one would be so indulgent to them as the master they were about to lose, and that they would be worked to death. Still it would be vain for him to preach against repartimientos whilst he retained Indians of his own.

Las Casas commenced his preaching against Indian slavery in Cuba; but he soon resolved to proceed to Spain, in order to attack the evil at its fountain-head. It was certainly time that some independent representation should be made to the Spanish government as to the condition of the Indians of Cuba, which was so miserable that they were forced to seek refuge in flight; and when even this refuge was denied them—for they were pursued by blood-hounds—they had recourse to suicide. On his arrival in Hispaniola, Las Casas found that Pedro de Cordova, the chief of the Dominicans, had set out on a voyage for the purpose of founding monasteries on the Pearl Coast.

Two Dominicans, whose fate is instructive as showing the colonial manners of the period, established themselves at a point about twenty leagues from Cumana called Maracapána, where they were hospitably received by the Indians. Soon after the arrival of Francisco de Cordova and Juan Garces, a Spanish vessel engaged in the pearl fisheries touched at the same point. It may be remarked that the mainland had been especially chosen as a field for missionary operations in order that the efforts of the priests might not be thwarted by the evil example of the secular colonists. As a rule the appearance of a Spanish vessel was a signal for the natives to take to flight; but on this occasion, the Dominican missionaries being looked upon as hostages, the cacique of the place, with his family and servants, numbering seventeen persons, accepted an invitation on board the Spanish ship. When they were safely on board, the vessel weighed anchor and set sail. As was to be expected, the Indians on shore, who were witnesses of this treachery, resolved to kill the two Dominicans, and were only dissuaded from doing so on the assurance of the latter that the cacique and his family would be returned within four months.

By another Spanish vessel, which soon afterwards made its appearance on the coast, the two missionaries were enabled to communicate their circumstances to the chief of their order at San Domingo. On the arrival at that place of the first vessel, it was declared that, as it had not been furnished with a proper license, it must be condemned as a prize; and therefore the cacique and his family were divided as slaves amongst the judges of appeal! Some days after this transaction came the letters of the two missionaries, whereupon the man-stealing captain took refuge in a monastery. The Dominicans lost no time in communicating the circumstances of the cacique’s capture; but the judges of appeal declined to give up their slaves, and at the end of the stipulated four months the two unfortunate missionaries were put to death!